Small Business Marketing
Marketing help, marketing advice, marketing
techniques and tactics for small business.
Small &
Medium businesses MUST use a different marketing model if
they want to thrive in today's "hyper-competitive" economy.
If you are like most small business owners,
you probably promote yourself using conventional methods and
techniques. More than likely, you use some combination of
local or national advertising and promotion including newspapers,
pennysavers, radio, direct mail, flyers, networking events,
trade shows, the web or other venues.
You may be a small 1- or 2-person shop or a
local merchant with 150 employees; whichever, however or whatever--you've
got to know how to keep your business alive and thriving in
these tough new economic times.
As a small or medium sized business, one of
the most important things you can do is protect yourself from
bad marketing and advertising decisions. We've all invested
in marketing advice or promotion ideas and services that didn't
end up delivering on the value promises.
We "wake up" a couple of days or weeks
later and realize the hundreds or even thousands of dollars
we spent didn't contribute to the success of the business.
In other words, the Return on Investment sucked and
as a result we now (improperly) conclude that "advertising
doesn't work for my business".
When it comes to small business marketing and
promotion, there are plenty of media companies and ad agencies
ready to sell you something.... But what are you really getting
for every promotional dollar you spend? Do you know your
return-on-investment for each and every advertising expenditure
you make?
How To Market Your Small or Medium Business the
Right Way ?
Perform a SWOT Analysis - analyze your strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats, then plan and execute
accordingly. Be honest when taking your inventory.
Refocus your Marketing - most small business
marketing materials are ill-prepared to deal with todays demanding
consumers. Unfortunately, most brochures and web sites are loaded
with value-less content that does not effectively communicate
to the needs of consumers. For example, descriptors like Best,
Number 1, The Finest, etc. are hackneyed
phrases that should be avoided when creating your strategic
marketing messages.
Retool your Marketing - Once you redesign
your small businesss marketing strategy and key messages, you
need to integrate them into your marketing materials and activities
such as brochures, web sites, advertising, direct mail, etc.
Prospect Education System - Most prospects
don't have a clue about who you really are, what
you really do or why they should buy from you.
Marketing's job is to effectively communicate all of this and
much more to your prospective customers.
Advertisement Restructuring - Just pick up
any local newspaper or yellow pages and look at the ads. The
vast majority are bland, boring and ineffective at getting and
keeping your attention. But by making some key changes to your
advertising, you can dramatically improve your response.
Return-on-Investment Tracking - Unless you
code and track your online and offline ads, you can't determine
your markeing ROI and you can't make actionable changes to improve.
No matter what industry you're in, Marketing Science
can help you generate more business !
CALL 845-223-8168 for Your
FREE Initial Marketing Consultation!
